Episode 42 Napoleon Defeats the Holy Roman Empire
Living the French Revolution and Age of Napoleon
Dr Suzanne M Desan
Film Review
Between 1801-1804 Napoleon drafted 60,000 men a year. He divided his army into 7 independent corps of 14,000-25,000 troop, each with its own infantry, light cavalry and artillery. Making food foraging easier, this decentralization made it easier to cover long distances more quickly. Arme. Napoleon’s men loved him. He was well known for fraternizing with his foot soldiers, his generosity with Legion of Honor medals and a policy of adopting the children of fallen troops.
In May 1805, Napoleon was crowned King of Italy in Milan and in June he annexed Genoa. In July, the Austrians invaded Bavaria, a French ally. In the Danube campaign, Napoleon surrounded Austrian troops with 200,000 men before their Russian allies could catch up with them. The Austrians lost 60,000 men in this battle, with 10,000 killed, 27,000 taken prisoner and 23,000 wounded. After the battle of the Danube, the French army marched east to occupy Vienna.
At the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon staked out 55,000 troops on the Plotzen Heights, from which he attacked the Russian rear guard. As the Russian troops retreated across a frozen lake, Napoleon used canon balls to crack the ice, drowning thousands of men, canons and horses. After losing a third of their strength (27,000 men), the Austrians sued for peace while the Russians retreated behind the Russian border.
With the treaty of Pressberg the Austrians signed in December 1805, the Austrian Emperor Francis II renounced the 1,000 year-old title of Holy Roman Emperor. He also signed away the Dalmatian coast, the region around Venice and a large region in southern Germany (totaling 1/6 of Austria’s former empire) and four million subjects.
Napoleon now controlled 16 German states (including Hesse, Bavaria and Baden) known as the Confederation of the Rhine.
He made his brother-in-law General Murat leader of the Grand Duchy of Berg, his brother Louis president of the Republic of Holland and his brother Joseph king of the kingdom of Naples (which comprised most of the southern Italian peninsula).*
1805 also saw the French tragedy at Trafalgar, in which UK admiral Horatio Nelson defeated a combined French/Spanish navy of 33 ship with 27 British ships. The British lost no ships, compared to the French/Spanish loss of 22.
In 1806 Napoleon ended the revolutionary calendar.
*Napoleon himself ran the kingdom of Italy in the northern Italian peninsula.
Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.
The Most Revolutionary Act 